Sunday, October 25, 2009

Besides Hong Kong and Singapore, structured products like Lehman Minibonds made their way to Belgium. Singapore is the only country where the govt asked the consumers to file complaints on a case by case basis and allowed the banks to decide the amount to compensate customers.

In Belgian prosecutors have taken action against Citibank to recover the money for Belgian customers. We have a lawsuit now filed by 200 customers against DBS [Link]. These 200 investors have decided to sue DBS because there is a lack of action on the part of our regulators and govt to bring about what they feel is a fair and just resolution.------------------------------------------------[Link]Belgian prosecutor wants Citibank to repay 'duped' savers

BRUSSELS : Prosecutors in Belgium want US lender Citibank to pay back 128 million euros to Belgian customers who claim they were duped into buying high-risk financial products from failed investment bank Lehman Brothers, media reports said Saturday. Two leading business newspapers, L'Echo and De Tijd, reported the public prosecutor will argue Citibank's Belgian operations enticed clients with "false advertising" and "tricks" to convince them to swap their savings for high-risk products from the fallen Wall Street Bank. The reports said the case will open on December 1 where prosecution will call on Citibank to reimburse the 4,000 clients affected with a total of 128 million euros (192 million dollars) plus interest. Calls to the public prosecutor's office seeking comment were not immediately returned. Lehman Brothers collapsed on September 15, 2008, sending a jolt through financial markets and triggering instability in other banks worldwide. The case in Brussels' civil tribunal was brought following by a complaint from an investors rights association, Deminor. The aggrieved customers argue they received false or inaccurate information about the financial products they were sold. Some 18,000 Belgian savers were hit by Lehman Brothers' collapse, losing close to 325 million euros. - AFP /ls

Here our government cares for the people. Indeed they care so much that they are pro-business to attract the latter to create jobs for "residents" (Singaporeans and PRs). It doesn't matter that some jobs do not pay enough, for LKY would rather that one has a job than no job at all. Our goverment cares for us, in a way that is uniquely Singapore. I will show how much I appreciate our elite at the polls.

Incorrect - Singapoer is not unique. The UK Government is also expecting Lehman Structured Product victims to file their cases on an individual basis. There is no blacket compensation for this mis-selling.